tribalclimatefandomcom-20200214-history
History
The Kyoto Protocol was adopted on December 11, 1997. As part of an awareness campaign, the Native Peoples-Native Homelands Climate Change Workshop (NPNHCCW1) was held on October 28 through November 01, 1998. It was part of a series of workshops being held around the U.S. to improve the understanding of the potential consequences of climate variability and change for the Nation and produced a landmark summary report, Circles of Wisdom. NPNHCCW2 took place November 18-21, 2009, and produced another rich report. It also resulted in the Mystic Lake Declaration written by those who had lived in harmony with nature in North America for more than 10,000 years to share with leaders in Copenhagen (COP15) who would then wrestle to achieve legally binding reductions in carbon emissions later that year. U.S. Tribal Nations have consistently remained well-ahead of many other nations in addressing the causes and impacts of climate change. In 2006, Resolution #EWS-06-004 of the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) supported a national mandatory program to reduce climate pollution and promote renewable energy. NCAI continues to unite tribal leaders nationwide in Climate Change solutions by influencing national policy and government budgets to focus on this critical problem that disproportionately affects indigenous peoples worldwide. Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians (ATNI) and other tribal groups provide regional support to these national NCAI efforts (example: 2015 ATNI Climate Conference). The Native American Rights Fund (NARF) provides legal support to NCAI for climate-related cases. Of many impressive leaders in these and other indigenous climate response efforts has been Daniel Wildcat, Director of the Haskell Environmental Research Studies Center in Lawrence, KS. In 1997, Dr. Wildcat designed a four-part video series entitled, All Things Are Connected: The Circle of Life, then went on to form the American Indian and Alask Native Climate Change Working Group. The group is now known as the Indigenous Peoples Climate Change Working Group (IPCCWG) to recognize state tribes, Pacific Islanders, and other indigenous communities and peoples not recognized by the U.S. federal government. IPCCWG continues to meet at least twice a year in person and through ongoing efforts continually to spur students at tribal colleges and universities (TCUs) to work with tribal communities and leaders on climate change issues (visit IPCCWG Facebook for updates). In 2008, Dr. Wildcat helped organize Planning for Seven Generations Conference: Indigenous & Scientific Approaches to Climate Change, sponsored by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, UCAR. As a preeminent expert and elder, he shares his knowledge widely at national and international events on tribes and climate. In his most recent book, Red Alert:Saving the Planet with Indigenous Knowledge, Dr. Wildcat suggests current global climate change issues will require the exercise of indigenous ingenuity - indigenuity - and wisdom, if humankind is to reduce the ecological damage well underway. Another significant tribal climate leader has been Dr. Robin Kimmerer, Director for Center of Native People and the Environment in the Dept. of Forestry and Biology at the State University of New York. In addition to authoring numberous papers and authoring, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants, ''she worked with several tribal colleges and climate leaders to create the Braids of Truth part 2: Climate, which is being developed into a new Capacity Building follow-on series in 2015. In 2013, UCAR continued its tradition of supporting broad engagement with diverse communities by establishing Rising Voices of Indigenous People in Weather and Climate Science Workshop I. Rising Voices (RV) has continued yearly workshops, holding Rising Voices II in 2014 and Rising Voices III in 2015, with the 2016 workshop planned for Hawaii. As much as the workshops themselves and the resulting documents to address tribal climate concerns, the growing group hosts a listserv, which is unique in that any reader can directly contribute to the conversation in real time. Two important related activities that included RV leaders were the book Climate Change and Indigenous Peoples in the United States Impacts, Experiences and Actions and significant contribution to the development of Chapter 12. Indigenous Peoples, Lands, and Resources in the 2014 Third National Climate Assessment (NCA3). Another key contributor in both NCA3 and the IPCCWG development was Dr. Bull Bennett, who has worked tirelessly for decades with NASA staff involved in NPNHCCW to develop the NASA TCU ELO program for tribal student summer interns, co-sponsored with Haskell through Dr. Daniel Wildcat. Several international non-profits have also worked for decades with tribes, including the National Wildlife Foundation (NWF), who developed ClimateSmart Adaptation training. The NWF tribal liaison helped establish tribal participation at several climate conferences, including the first National Adaptation Forum in April 2012 and the subsequent one in May 2015. Both NAF events have lead to working group activities, which in conjunction with RV and other nationwide tribal climate conferences and movements and intertribal and individual tribal efforts created Guidelines for Considering Traditional Knowledges in Climate Change Initiatives (Tool link). After the failure of COP15 in 2009 to reach international agreement on global climate emissions reductions, the federal government developed working groups to better address growing climate issues at home. Results culminated in DOI Secretarial Order 3029 on 9/14/2009, which established the eight regional Climate Science Centers (CSCs) and a network of Landscape Conservation Cooperatives (LCCs), and expanded climate data efforts on data.gov. In 2011, with the establishment of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Climate Change program, tribes began to receive direct funding for climate adaptation planning and training. In 2011, BIA also helped fund start-up of the North Pacific LCC, which has ensured it remains one of the most tribally-focused to date. The Western Alaska LCC also coordinates other LCCs in increasing efforts to support Alaska Native Villages climate needs. In 2011, the South Central (SC) CSC consortium of seven institutions was formed to include both the Chicasaw Nation and the Choctaw Nation, which also established a tribal liaison to directly work with these and other tribal partners region-wide. In 2012, the College of Menominee Nation, Sustainability Development Institute (CMN SDI) was a founding institution in the establishment of the Northeast (NE) CSC. In 2011, Chris Caldwell, CMN SDI Director, and Kyle Whyte, Timnick Chair in Humanities at Michigan State University, started an annual Shifting Seasons Summit for tribes concerning focused climate concerns with broad solution support. Both also remain active tribal climate leaders in subsequent NAF and RV and follow-on efforts. In 2013, the Advisory Committee on Climate Change and Natural Resource Science (ACCCNRS) was established to provide policy-level input from tribes and other stakeholders in CSCs. Through the ACCCNRS, Climate and Traditional Knowledges Workgroup (CTKW) ''Guidelines for Considering Traditional Knowledges in Climate Change Initiatives and the Primer on Indigenous Peoples were shared more broadly with federal partners. NAF, RV, and other direct tribal input to ACCCNRS help create the 2015 Report, which tribal needs findings were incorporated into the Whitehouse State. Local, and Tribal Leaders Task Force on Climate Change. In 2010, EPA also expanded its efforts to incorporate outreach to tribes in Climate Change by establishing a five-year agreement with the Northern Arizona University, Institute of Environmental Professionals (NAU ITEP) to fund their new Tribes and Climate[http://www7.nau.edu/itep/main/tcc/Tribes/ Change ''(TCC) program] to create online tribal climate case studies, tools, reports, and a formal ''Tribal Climate Adaptation Planning Training Program. ''Prior in 1999, ''the EPA established the Tribal Science Council (TSC), which has worked closely with EPA regional tribal liaisons and EPA climate programs to build resilience over time, as well. In addition to working with CMN SDI since at least 2003, the USFS has also been actively supporting tribes to build climate resilience. In the late 2000s, USFS funded a PNW Tribal Climate Change Project and a SW Tribal Climate Change Project, which has help spur both regions to develop significant climate change resources and resilience examples. The USFS Climate Change Response Framework is also helping many NE and Great Lakes tribes develop climate adaptation projects to meet a specific need. USDA Climate Hubs also provide regional support to farmers and ranchers to better adapt to a changing climate. DOE Tribal Energy provides funding and technical assistance to help tribes reduce energy use and generate more renewable energy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which may help arrest climate change to reduce the need to adapt, while increasing self-sufficiency and wealth. Another critical development furthering tribal climate understanding and strength was the First Stewards Symposiums held in Washington, DC in 2012 and in 2014. The resulting 2012 Witness Report is a powerful statement concerning the extreme impacts on Alaska Native communities, Tribes, and indigenous peoples nationwide. The Witness Report also represents an important medium that should be considered in addition to other, more formal, documentation of all tribal climate conference results from a more limited perspective. An oral report of witnesses could also better interpret future conference impacts for any purpose. There is great hope that under the leadership of Micah McCarty, an ever larger symposium will be held in DC in 2016, bringing together NAF, RV, Shifting Seasons, and other climate conference leaders with a wider range of tribal leaders to strengthen One Voice and work hard for results. In 2015, Tribal Nations and Arctic Topics were added to the U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit to showcase Tribal Examples of Taking Action and Tribal Tools to support resilience efforts, such as the Local Environmental Observers (LEO) Network (ANTHC), Indigenous Health Indicators (IHI)(Swinomish), Ocean Acidification Curriculum Collection (Suquamish), and the G-WOW Changing Climate, Changing Culture Initiative(Ojibwe). Tribal examples and tools focused on six resilient strategies: Adaptation and Planning (CSKT), Adaptation (Tulalip), Mitigation (Blue Lake), Disaster Risk Reduction (Navajo), Relocation (Kivalina), and Capacity Building (Mescalero). A Tribal Advisory team, NCA3 C12 authors, and leaders of the various tribal climate groups provide support to this effort, as they have effectively coordinated on so many other tribal climate resilience efforts. Many Tribes and Alaska Native Villages specifically plan for future generations in decision making by focusing on the seventh-generation principle (as described by Oren Lyons) Based on a 2014 Native Youth Report, the 2015 Whitehouse Generation Indigneouseffort seeks to build a strong youth movement for climate resilience and resilience overall. This includes efforts to develop innovative college-ready programs, BIA youth and intern climate awards, and more funds in FY16 designated for tribal youth support. To this end, in July 2015, the first ever Whitehouse Tribal Youth gathering was held focusing on Building Leadership skills for climate and other challenges, sponsored with United National Indian Tribal Youth (Unityinc.org).